BAM Key Details:
- On December 29, Meta announced users will no longer be able to promote real estate (or vehicle) listings on Facebook Marketplace through their business page
- Incomplete wording created confusion in the real estate community regarding whether agents can still promote listings in the Marketplace or on their business pages.
On December 29, Facebook parent company Meta made an announcement regarding the promotion of real estate and vehicle listings on Facebook Marketplace:
Starting on January 30, 2023, Meta will no longer support the ability for all sellers to create vehicle and real estate/rentals listings using a Facebook business Page, along with the vehicles tab and manage inventory tab in markets where this feature is currently available.
After seeing Meta’s new rules for real estate listings, many agents were left thinking they could no longer promote listings on the Facebook Marketplace—or on their business page.
More than one news source seized upon the widespread confusion and anger in the agent community and sought to clarify the situation.
Here’s what we know so far.
What has changed?
Starting January 30th, 2023, Meta will no longer allow sellers on their platform to create real estate/rental (or vehicle) listings on Facebook Marketplace using a Facebook business page.
The only impacted markets here are real estate/rentals and motor vehicles.
What has not changed?
Free person-to-person listings for real estate and rental properties will still be available on Facebook Marketplace.
And while you can no longer post real estate/rental listings from Facebook business pages to the Marketplace, you can still reach home buyers and renters on Facebook in other ways:
- Create listings on Marketplace through your personal profile (not business)
- Promote your listings on your business page with high-quality photos and video content
- Create Facebook ads promoting your real estate/rental listings
Katie Lance, the founder and CEO of Katie Lance Consulting, breaks it all down in a recent Inman article and an Instagram post.
Basically, this only affects you if you have been posting listings to Marketplace from your business page.
Facebook/Meta hasn’t really explained their reasoning for this rule change or how their new policy will work. But Lance suspects it’s about streamlining, reducing the amount of spam, and getting back to the original vision for Facebook Marketplace.
Can you still advertise real estate listings on Facebook?
Yes, you can. The only real change is how real estate agents are allowed to post listings on Facebook Marketplace: instead of posting through their business page, they now can only do so through their personal Facebook page.
If you, as a real estate agent, depend primarily on Facebook Marketplace, and you’re nervous about using your personal profile to share listings, consider the following ways to effectively promote your listings on the platform:
- Professional photography (aerial, indoor, and ground-level outdoor)
- Video tours
- Interactive floor plans
With these visuals, you can create Stories and Reels—proven ways of driving traffic and boosting engagement alongside Facebook Live.
Reels on Facebook and Instagram are an excellent way to reach people who don’t know you and might be looking for an agent to help them buy, sell or both.
And ultimately, as The Broke Agent has pointed out more than once, none of us own Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or any other social media platform. Changes will happen that we can’t control. All we can do is adapt.
What about Facebook Ads?
Fortunately, this rule change doesn’t affect how real estate agents and rental property owners can use Facebook ads to promote their listings.
Yes, they are still useful. But some types are more effective than others:
- Video ads—Video and real estate belong together, and Facebook ads allow you to reach more people with your video home tours.
- Messenger ads—Use Facebook’s native messaging app to nudge your audience into asking questions, schedule viewings, or otherwise engaging with your brand.
- Event ads—Whether it’s an open house, a client appreciation party, or an online event, create one of these ads and promote it to an audience likely to be interested.
- Catalog ads—Use a carousel of images your audience can scroll through to learn more about specific homes in their market or price range (for example).
- Virtual event registration—Host a virtual event (like a webinar, an online workshop, or a professional demo) to get your audience signing up to learn more.
- Marketplace ads—Just as you can still create listings on Marketplace—through your personal page—you can also create Marketplace ads for your home listings.
Ads on Facebook are still an incredibly effective way to promote real estate listings. Using your Real Estate Professional Page, you can create an ad using the above types of media and ensure that you select Special Ad > Category Housing to comply with the Fair Housing Act.
While this does open your ad to all ages and demographics (which does hinder properties that are at a higher price point homes), it allows for more exposure on your listing and awareness of you as a real estate professional in that market.
Another perk when using Facebook ads is creating multiple ad sets within one ad. This way you can test out different types of media (listing video clips, high end listing photography carousels, green screen videos of you showcasing the listing, etc) to see which performs better with the audience selected for your market.v
Important Caveat: As an agent, you need to be aware of your state’s advertising rules—specifically those related to the verbiage you use when advertising homes for sale—when creating ads on Facebook or any other platform.
That’s just one of the legal issues real estate agents need to be aware of when creating content for their business.
